One thing WSU and The Seattle Supersonics taught me was not to get too wrapped up in sports,
…unless you are actually IN the game. If you are a player or a coach, and you have some actual influence over the game besides screaming so loud it’s hard to hear audibles or shoot free throws, then you should feel through pangs of defeat and earn the true ecstasy of victory.
But as a fan…I am not going to let a bunch of kids being pimped by the College Football Industrial Complex have a bearing on how I feel the next day.
The only time I get mad over college football is when another billion dollar TV contract gets signed built on kids that are getting nothing but a half assed education that isn’t going to really equate to a great job, insurance or compensation for injuries they will suffer for the rest of their lives. Not to mention the share of the millions even their coaches and others that run the plantation enjoy.
People getting pissed about WSU collapsing but not about the generations of college athletes that built this industry for play dough, confound me.
When I was on campus I used to talk to football players about how they better have fun while it lasts. Because the benefits are a check that will bounce when the internship ends. College football is a Gravy train where everyone gets the Gravy except the young folks doing the work.
You aren’t yelling at the guy making Nachos at the stadium. Hell he’s getting paid, and if he breaks his ankle at the Stadium he can sue the school. A player cannot.
Last time I cried over a game of was 1994 when the Sonics won 63 games and lost to the 8th seeded The Nuggets in the first round.
After that I realized there was a much more exciting world ahead crying over girls and great songs.
I still played high school ball like a Viper. But the closer I got to college and the farther my chances of “winning” a scholarship as I realized I pretty much stopped growing in middle school, the more I was cool with not being an unpaid intern on the end of bench hoping and praying to be used.
College sports just seems dirty. Like it’s a lot of fun. Oh the tradition of merchandising and excess eating and binge drinking.
But in a PC environment it reminds me how selective our outrage is, and how much America actually worships money, and then wraps it up with a bunch of hoo haaa about their alleged desert religion.
Actual values would be paying these kids for their goddamn work. The reason College Football is rich beyond belief is simple. Imagine if you didn’t have to pay LeBron James to fill an arena and then you sold everyone his jersey. And then you picked up the phone and renegotiated your TV deal because you owned LeBron James.
But I suppose if we don’t pay these kids there is more money to go around for a new generation of drones to replace these fighter jets.
That being said, it would be neat if we made it to the Rose Bowl.
Pimpin’ ain’t easy. You still gotta sell all these Jerseys and make great Nachos.
– Musician and writer Davin Michael Stedman has many ventures, such as the AMAZING blog, 100milesofmusic.com. Davin’s recent song has become a global earworm and Caribbean dancehall hit. Listen here on Reggaeville: DAVIN MICHAEL STEDMAN & ANTHONY RED ROSE – FREE YOUR MIND FEAT. SLY & ROBBIE WITH LENKY MARSDEN. The video is now available on Youtube: Tuff Gong Television. His single with British band Sherlock Soul is available here.
